A majority of finance
departments expect to
deploy one of several
top emerging
technologies
by 2020, according to a
worldwide survey of more
than 400 organizations
by Gartner, Inc.

“More than a quarter of
organizations surveyed
expect to deploy some
form of
artificial intelligence
(AI) or
machine learning
in their finance
department by 2020,”
said
Christopher Iervolino,
senior director analyst
at Gartner. “Moreover,
half the respondents
expect to deploy
predictive analytics in
the same period.”

The other technologies
organizations expect to
deploy in the same time
frame are, in ranked
order: mobile support
for financial processes,
robotic process
automation
(RPA), integration of
external data, and AI or
machine learning.

Mr. Iervolino explained
that CFOs and other
finance leaders are
looking for new ways to
reduce costs, improve
controls and uncover
fresh insights that
could drive competitive
advantage. The survey
showed the ranking of
nine common emerging
technologies used to
pursue these aims (see
Figure 1).

Figure 1: Finance
Technology Deployment
Plans, 2018

Source: Gartner
(December 2018)

“Alongside this survey
data, we’ve also
conducted an extensive
global analysis of
social media
conversations around the
term ‘financial planning
and analysis’ when
discussed alongside AI,
from 2016 through 2018,”
said Mr. Iervolino. “The
results show that the
number of conversations
including this phrase
has been growing
rapidly, with a compound
quarterly growth rate of
15.7 percent.”

“The lack of working AI
deployments is no big
surprise, because the
technology is not yet
built into most FP&A
application suites,”
said Mr. Iervolino.
“There is tremendous
potential for
transformational
improvement, but these
capabilities are only
just becoming mainstream
so the deployment
expectations we see in
the survey may be
unrealistic for many.”

Mr. Iervolino suggested
that although most
organizations will not
be using AI meaningfully
in the finance
department by 2020, it’s
still the right time to
assess how the
technology could improve
FP&A in the future, and
to start experimenting.
Gartner suggests using
the following steps to
get started with AI in
FP&A.

Step 1: Examine
Current FP&A Processes
and ToolsFocus on
existing shortcomings
that could be improved
with a more
data-intensive approach,
using more operational
data and more direct
participation from lines
of business (LOBs). Then
prototype proven vendor
capabilities against
these shortcomings.

Step 3: Pursue
FP&A AI OpportunitiesOnce the
finance organization has
properly evaluated its
existing tools, and
built the expertise to
use them, it will be in
a strong position to
build a business case to
invest in an AI
initiative, if the
potential is identified.
Moreover, it may
demonstrate the need for
the finance department’s
involvement in existing
AI initiatives.

“There is a tendency
within finance
organizations to
approach FP&A
improvements in a
tactical way,
characterized by a
finance-siloed focus on
areas such as workflow
control, automating
business calculations
and consistency,” said
Mr. Iervolino. “Leaders
should consider that a
strategic approach to
FP&A will provide
significantly more value
by supporting key
partnerships between
finance and LOBs, by
providing analytics and
decision support, and
through integrated
financial planning and
modeling.”